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Members were welcomed by President Peter Pearse at the Cambridge Bowling Club, Floreat. The guest speaker was our District Governor, Charles Johnson. Charles commenced is presentation by telling his personal Rotary story – being a RYLA Awardee, International Exchange Student, a member of Subiaco North, and later, Matilda Bay.

Charles emphasised that Club Rules have been re-written emphasising flexibility and responsibility. This means that Clubs are free to determine their own responsible futures. He said that when people face a challenge they typically choose either to “build walls or windmills”. He said he hoped that Clubs would accept the challenge to “build windmills”. He encouraged Clubs to be inspired and to pursue positive change. He thought that the prime responsibilities of Clubs are to take care of our members first; to focus on polio eradication; environment and climate Change; and give priority to recruiting on Youth and younger members, together with developing new Rotoract Clubs.

He encouraged Clubs to apply for Presidential Citations confirming their inspirational and responsible involvement in each of these areas. He thought that having an up-to-date Annual Club Strategic Plan would be important in achieving a citation.

Recruitment of new members was very important. He recommended that each member tell their own personal Rotary stories and why they are inspired by Rotary when they are recruiting new members. He thought that most members value Rotary’s diverse membership. He emphasised that the recruitment process should include informing new members about Rotary but also incorporating new member expectations into plans about what the Club was trying to achieve.

He then presented some interesting research findings collected from Members who had chosen to leave their Rotary Clubs: 46% stated that the would not recommend their Club to potential members; and 35% would not recommend Rotary as an organisation to join. Charles was saddened by these findings but emphasised that it is the responsibility of each Club to deal with this challenge by getting meeting formats right in terms of what members would like; getting agreement on meeting time and frequency of meetings; utilizing the full range of member options (e.g. full members, honorary members, sponsored members), etc. It is important for Rotarians to become “PEOPLE OF ACTION” who INSPIRE, TRANSFORM AND CONNECT. He recommended that Clubs undertake Joint Projects and have regular joint-meetings.The future is not going to be just about attending meetings, but CREATING, PURSUING NEW PATHS and BEING FOCUSED about what they do.

Following his presentation, President Tony Parker described some of Western Endeavour’ project initiatives. President Peter Pearse then reciprocated for his Club. The meeting concludes with President Peter awarding an Honorary Membership to Jeanette Wood for her volunteer work for their Club.